IndyCar: Briscoe gets new number, race engineer for 2012 season

Team Penske said that Ryan Briscoe will switch to the No. 2 and that Jonathan Diuguid was been named his new race engineer.

Briscoe formerly ran the No. 6 car in the Izod IndyCar Series for Penske. For the 2012 racing season, his Dallara-Chevrolet will wear the No. 2.

Diuguid has been with Penske Racing since 2005, when he joined the organization as a member of the Penske Porsche sports-car team. He has served as a data-acquisition engineer, a design engineer and a race engineer in the team's Porsche American Le Mans Series and Grand-Am Series Daytona Prototype programs. Most recently he worked as a data-acquisition engineer for the Team Penske No. 6 car team with Briscoe for the past two seasons.

"We always like to promote from within our organization, and Jonathan has done a terrific job for us and he is ready to take over as Ryan's race engineer," team owner Roger Penske said in a statement. "Jonathan and I have worked together for several years now, and I look forward to winning more races together in his new role on the No. 2 team beginning next season."

Diuguid added, "I want to thank Roger and Tim [Cindric] for giving me this opportunity and for having confidence in me to perform in this new role. I came to Penske straight out of college when I worked with Ryan on the No. 6 Penske Porsche in the ALMS program. We've enjoyed success in sports cars and in IndyCar. Over the years Ryan and I have formed a strong working relationship, and I look forward to using that bond to produce results on track with the strong No. 2 Team Penske crew in 2012."

Penske is making the switch to the No. 2 because of its history with the number.

"Our organization has considerable history and tradition with that number and we felt this was the right time to make the change," Penske said.

Penske Racing has 142 starts in the No. 2 entry among five different drivers in its open-wheel-racing history. The 2012 sponsor lineup for the No. 2 Team Penske car is expected to be announced in the coming weeks.

Diuguid, Briscoe and the No. 2 team will compete alongside their teammates in the No. 3, driven by Helio Castroneves, and the No. 12, driven by Will Power.